A small thread:
1) In the nineties, there was Yule Love Story on Zee TV. One of the episodes in the show was the inspiration behind Ashutosh Gowariker's #Swades. It was the story of a man named Mohan (played by Gowariker) who returns to India and wants to find Kaveri Amma.

2) Mohan takes a trailer and travels to Mahadevpur where Kaveri Amma stays with her niece Geeta. Mohan falls in love with Geeta and decides to stay in India to help develop his country. This is what happens in Swades, too.

3) Ashutosh Gowariker also made What's Your Raashee? that was also adapted from the book Kimball Ravenswood but it was closer to Ketan Mehta’s Mr. Yogi which was also adapted from the same book

4) Pankuj Parashar made Jalwa in 1987 where the villain is named DD (after Doordarshan) and is played by Tejeshwar Singh. The thing to note is that Singh was the same newsreader who announced the Emergency on Doordarshan in 1975.

5) In Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, Naseeruddin Shah played Amar Singh Rathore, a dead man who speaks to his wife Savitrithrough his portrait on the wall. It is inspired by Ekta Kapoor's Hum Paanch where the late Priya Tendulkar played a similar role

6) Sriram Raghavan's Andhadhun opens with a dedication to Chhaya Geet and Chitrahaar, the Doordarshan shows that brought Hindi film music into our homes.

7) In Sava Dollar from  #Aiyyaa, Meenaxi dreams of becoming a top actress someday. The song ends with her appearing on an episode of Koffee With Karan with the King of Bollywood (Shah Rukh Khan).

8) In Ritesh Batra's The Lunchbox,  Saajan Fernandes (Irfaan) watches old episodes of Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi.

9) Gangs of Wasseypur opens with Ekta Kapoor's Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.

10) For many more instances on television shows in films, the full post on the blog is now published :) http://dichotomy-of-irony.blogspot.com/2020/08/television-in-films.html