Gave a loan of 15lakh to my friend

I gave 15lakh loan of which 2.7 lakh cash from gold mortgage for free of interest in 2023 sep to my childhood friend. Now he is saying he can't pay me due to losses of about 1 crore in his business.He is saying he is getting depressed so not to bother him now.I gave 9 lakh of my wife savings in it without her permission saying I'm gonna invest that money. I can't take legal action on my childhood friend. How to convince him to pay me atleast 9 lakh? update: Today, I confessed about this to her, and she remained silent for a while. But in the end, she told me to let it go, saying i already did the mistake and it's too late. and asked me to try to recover it partially atleast. But, i couldn't stop thinking about this whole thing.I feel atleast she could have scolded me but that silence hurts most. I decided to threaten him with legal action if not I'll proceed legally.