Freida Pinto has been forced to celebrate her 26th birthday without boyfriend Dev Patel by her side.

The Slumdog Millionaire beauty attended the premiere of her new film Miral at the BFI London Film Festival, but boyfriend Patel, who co-starred with her in Danny Boyle's Oscar-winning film, was away filming in India.

Pinto, who dazzled on the red carpet in a black Alexander McQueen gown with gold detail, revealed: "I'm here until tomorrow, so there's no way I can celebrate my birthday in India, and that's where Dev is filming.

"But my family are here so I'm going to just celebrate with them a bit later."

Miral, directed by The Diving Bell and the Butterfly's Julian Schnabel, is based on Rula Jebreal's semi-autobiographical novel, about her life growing up amid the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Jerusalem.

Pinto plays Miral, who grows up in an orphanage and goes on to teach in a refugee camp.

Pinto said: "It is a film about hope. It is a film about perseverance. It's a film about education being key to devote to peace.

"And Rula's mentioned this many times, and I think it's really beautiful, she said Gandhi said this, the father of my nation.

"'There's no way to peace, peace is the way.'

"And I think it's as straight forward as that."