Samayada Gombe
Poster
Directed by	Dorai–Bhagavan
Written by	Chi. Udaya Shankar (dialogues)
Screenplay by	Dorai–Bhagavan
Story by	Chitralekha
Produced by	Dorai–Bhagavan Rathi Radhakrishna
Starring	Dr. Rajkumar Roopa Devi Kanchana Srinath
Cinematography	B. C. Gowrishankar
Edited by	P. Bhaktavatsalam
Music by	M. Ranga Rao Chi. Udaya Shankar (lyrics)
Production company	Sri Thripura Sundari Combines
Release date	1984 (1984)
Running time	150 minutes
Country	India
Language	Kannada

Samayada Gombe (transl. Puppet of the times) is a 1984 Indian Kannada-language drama film directed and co-produced by Dorai–Bhagavan. The film stars Dr. Rajkumar, Srinath, Roopa Devi and Menaka.^[1] It is based on the novel of same name written by Chitralekha.^[2] This is the first Kannada film of Malayalam cinema actress Menaka, who played the role of Rajkumar's sister and Srinath's wife in the film.

The film met with positive response upon release from critics and was declared a blockbuster at the box office, seeing a theatrical run of at least 26 weeks.^[3] Bhagawan had revealed that Dr. Rajkumar's remuneration for the film was ₹6 lakh.^[4]

Truck driver Guru rescues a kidnapped boy and arranges to return him to his family. In a flashback sequence, it is shown that Guru is himself a runaway. Anil, as Guru was called, as a child, is born into a wealthy family in New Delhi, headed by a disciplinarian father. Young Anil accidentally injures his sister and fearing his father's punishment, runs away from his home, and ends up at a quarry operated by child trafficker, Dharmadasa, who names him Guru. Guru escapes from the quarry and finds himself at the residence of truck driver Rangappa, his wife Kamakshi and their daughter Mangala. The family adopts and bring him up as their son.

Guru (also going by Gurumurthy) is now a grown-up man and has taken to his father's profession. He sells off his truck in order to complete dowry obligations to marry off his foster sister, and is then hired to work as a car driver to Squadron leader Vinod Kumar and his family, consisting of wife Lakshmi and daughter Deepa. At a homage ceremony to Lakshmi's father, Guru finds out that Lakshmi is his biological sister, and that their father had died grieving his disappearance years ago. However, he does not reveal his real identity of Anil, as he feels he was unable to fulfill the duties that he ought to have completed to his family.

As days pass, Guru earns the trust of Kumar's family and remains close to them. He learns that his biological mother is on her deathbed in New Delhi and unbeknown to Lakshmi, travels there to see her, only to witness her take her last breath. A few days later, Kumar's family decides to return to their native place, and Guru rushes to the airport to see them off. He bids them a tearful goodbye, without once again revealing his identity to his sister, before falling into the arms of his lover, Gauri.

The music of the film was composed by M. Ranga Rao with lyrics written by Chi. Udaya Shankar.^[5]

The movie upon release won critical acclaim for the story and performances of the lead actors. The movie completed 50 days in all 20 first release centres. The movie ran for 175 days in Bengaluru and Mysuru and 100 days in several theatres in Uttara Karnataka. ^[6]

• Samayada Gombe at IMDb