Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures: Gaidai's Moscow and Odesa

Gaidai's three comic novellas started on paper here: on 25 March 1964 Mosfilm's Second Creative Association approved the script, and filming began on 27 July. Part of the picture was shot in the studio's pavilions, the rest at other Moscow addresses and in Odesa. The finished film became the top Soviet film of 1965, seen by 69.6 million viewers.

The "Déjà vu" novella is set at exam time, with everyone cramming for the summer examinations. The scenes inside the institute were shot at the Moscow Power Engineering Institute. In the story Shurik loses Lida's notebook, then passes the exam and is introduced to her by a mutual friend. A subplot follows a student nicknamed Numskull, who tries to cheat his Physics exam with a concealed radio.

The entrance scenes of the institute were shot on Vavilov Street, outside the Institute of Organoelement Compounds. This is the doorstep of the exam story: Shurik, enchanted by Lida without recognising her, walks her home, and an amusing incident with the neighbours' dog follows. Once inside her flat he feels he has been there before, and Lida concludes he might be a telepathist.

The filmmakers also worked near Moscow State University, and the pin marks its main building on the Sparrow Hills as a pointer, because the source says only "near" it. Shooting in Moscow was hard: in October bad weather hindered the outdoor scenes. The scene most tied to the student world is the pantomime in which Shurik, desperate for lecture notes, follows Lida reading her notebook over her shoulder.

Location precision: The sources say only that scenes were shot near Moscow State University; the pin marks its main building, not a known filming spot.

The warehouse burglary of the third novella is set on a snowy winter night, and the lack of snow made it hard to film. With bad weather in Moscow, shooting was relocated to Odesa and was complete on 22 November. Scenes there were shot in the Novye Cheryomushki district, on Kosmonavtov Street. The plot they serve: a warehouse manager hires Coward, Fool and Pro to stage a break-in, and Shurik replaces his landlady as guard.

Location precision: The sources give Kosmonavtov Street 31/3 but not which scene was shot there; the pin is a street-address lookup.

Fans have turned the film's most famous pantomime into bronze. In 2015 a statue of Lida and Shurik sitting on a bench was installed in the frontyard of Ryazan State University. The pair read together as in the film, where the two are so absorbed in the notes that they never look at or speak to each other.

Visitor guidance: The statue stands in the university's front yard; check access to the grounds.

A statue of Lida with Shurik reading the class notes over her shoulder was installed in front of the Kuban State Technological University in Krasnodar in May 2012, for the 75th anniversary of Aleksandr Demyanenko, the actor who played Shurik. It freezes the film's pantomime: following Lida through the city, Shurik reads her notebook and neither looks up.

Visitor guidance: The statue stands in front of the university; check the exact entrance on arrival.