Sister act!

The Arora sisters may belong to the fickle world of showbiz, but their closeness is anything but superficial.

Malaika Arora Khan is a name that conjures up an image of a siren who is grace personified even if she happens to be sliding up and down a beanpole in the skimpiest skirt possible. It's also a name that makes inclusion of raunchy item numbers in a film an enviable task, even if it means gyrating one's hips atop a moving train. It's also a name that shattered the notion that motherhood is a sure path to dialling down the oomph factor.

But surprisingly, it's none of the above that catapulted Arora to her articulate best in an interview with e+.

The magic words were "Amrita Arora". Now, we know that these two siblings are thick as glue. For instance, Amrita made time between her hectic shooting schedule to turn up at the Kaun Banega Crorepati sets as a mark of support to her sister and bro-in-law Arbaaz Khan. In turn, Malaika did not think twice before throwing a surprise birthday bash for her little sister who was in the middle of shooting for the film Kuch Love Kuch Drama. More recently, they were spotted together at designer Marc Cain's store with Karisma Kapoor.

But like any other sibling relationship, they too share a close bond laced with tiffs and patch-ups.

"We are poles apart when it comes to temperament. She is carefree while I am careful about my things, no matter what their cost. For instance, when she borrows my stuff and does not return it, I throw a fit," says Malaika.

But always the one to give in, Malaika strongly believes that she suffers from a chronic case of protecting her little sister from the big bad world.

"To me, Amrita will always be a kid. I treat her like my own child most of the times. She is one of the few people in my world who can get away with murder. Be it rummaging through my wallet or breezing in for a casual chat, I always make room for her," says Malaika, who will be in Dubai to perform at the Vision Africa event next Thursday.

Topping their list of favourite bonding activities is of course spending a day at the mall hunting for clothes.

"We share the same taste in clothes. We invariably end up buying the same pair of jeans and our sessions in the trial rooms on what looks good or bad are always fun," adds Malaika.

So what about sibling rivalry?

"No way. As clichéd as it sounds, I am afraid there has never been any kind of rivalry between us. It's more of sibling revelry. I act as her sounding board and if she needs any advice on career, she knows whom to turn to. So the question of rivalry does not arise," says Malaika.

Speaking of rivalry, her husband Arbaaz Khan too is a stranger to such an emotion. Their extent of closeness came to light during this interview that was conducted in between shooting for an item song with her husband.

"I am having a blast shooting with Arbaaz. And contrary to what people think, he does not fear the limelight being stolen by me. 'As long as you are around Malaika, nobody is going to notice even if I mess up', is his oft-repeated dialogue," she explains.

Mess up or no mess up, she is a huge hit as a mom, sister or a hip 'n' happening wife.

- Malaika will be in Dubai next week for vision africa.