Which Soviet TV film is traditionally watched on New Year's Eve in Russia?

The Soviet TV film traditionally watched on New Year's Eve in Russia is The Irony of Fate.

Eldar Ryazanov's romantic comedy was made for Soviet television in 1975 and broadcast nationally on January 1, 1976. Its New Year's setting, familiar apartment blocks, songs, and comic misunderstandings helped turn it into a holiday ritual. Millions of viewers still rewatch it during the New Year season across Russia and other former Soviet republics.

The plot follows Yevgeny Lukashin, who travels drunkenly from Moscow to Leningrad and enters an apartment with the same address and layout as his own. He meets Nadya, the actual resident, creating the film's central romantic mix-up. The title's irony comes from standardized Soviet housing producing an extraordinary coincidence.

It is sometimes confused with other celebrated Soviet films such as The Diamond Arm or Office Romance, both also associated with director Ryazanov. However, The Irony of Fate is the distinctive New Year's Eve television tradition.