Supposedly India’s top Hollywood export, actor Anil Kapoor can’t wait for his third outing at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA ) ceremony at London’s Royal Opera House. This is the second time that the 52-year-old will be presenting an award at BAFTA.  He says,

“I am extremely honoured to be at the event this year. BAFTA is more intimate than the Oscars, which is more stressful.” The ceremony, scheduled to take place on Sunday night (GMT). Next on Anil’s mind is doing films with daughter Sonam. “I want to work with Sonam. Spread the word. But it should be a script that suits both of us,” says the actor, whose upcoming Bollywood films include Tezz, Race 2 and Shootout at Wadala.

The actor, who was last seen in Tom Cruise-starrer Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (2011), also recently attended the Screen Actors’ Guild Awards in LA, where he had meetings with some top production houses. He is looking forward to his next Hollywood release, Roger Donaldson’s Cities. “This is the best phase of my career. And I’m happy doing one film at a time in Hollywood.”

Ask him about his TV production, the Indian remake of the popular American series, 24, and Anil says, “I am very excited about it. Once I am back from BAFTA, I will work on it full time.” Interestingly, his French beard seems to have done wonders for him. “My French beard is lucky for me. Toh mujhe continue karna padega is look ke saath (I’ll have to continue with the look). It works for me,” he says.

‘I had the french beard before ab’ Anil Kapoor slams claims that his famous French beard is inspired by actor Amitabh Bachchan’s. “You know, people used to tell me that I am copying Amitabh, but the fact is that I was the one who started the trend way back in Taal (1999),” Anil says.