The first of the two books, The Fourth Wall (2012), is set in Mumbai and explores the influence of Indian cinema on the lives of the common people. In many of these images, the subjects are posed in re-enactments of scenes from Bollywood films, either at Pinckers’s prompting or of their accord. In other photographs, unreal and cinematic scenes, like clouds of coloured smoke inside a room, portraits against film set backdrops and close-ups of framed stills from movies, attempt to blur the distinction between what is real and what isn’t, undermining the viewer’s implicit trust in the photographic image. Many of the indoor scenes in the series are shot in a way that makes them seem like stage sets, with three walls, a high ceiling and an invisible fourth wall in front of the camera. In some instances, a spotlight is also made deliberately visible.

Pinckers visited India again in 2014 to shoot for his next book, Will They Sing Like Raindrops or Leave Me Thirsty, which was commissioned by the Europalia Arts Festival and included an introduction written by art historian and curator Hans Theys. Also set in Mumbai, this series portrayed runaway couples and the friction between modern and traditional ideas of love in a conservative society where marriages continue to be arranged by families according to one’s assigned gender, caste and religion, and where honour killings are common. Most of the photographs in this series are portraits of couples at popular romantic spots around the city, their heads hidden under a dupatta, or in cramped rooms where they reside. In several portraits, the reason for their families’ disapproval is evident: a difference in religion (noticeable in their attire), a significant age gap or a same-sex relationship.